'Super/Man' wins 6 Critics Choice Documentary Awards, including Best Documentary

This week's Sunday entertainment feature examines the winners of the Ninth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Will & Harper tied for the top award of the evening, Best Documentary Feature. With a sweep of all six of its nominated categories, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story also scored wins for Best Director for Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, Best Editing for Otto Burnham, Best Score for Ilan Eshkeri, Best Archival Documentary, and Best Biographical Documentary.

I'm sharing Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story | Official Trailer before I comment.

The man you knew, the story you didn’t.
...
The story of Christopher Reeve is an astonishing rise from unknown actor to iconic movie star, and his definitive portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman set the benchmark for the superhero cinematic universes that dominate cinema today. Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care - all while continuing his career in cinema in front of and behind the camera and dedicating himself to his beloved family.

From the directors of McQueen, Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, this film includes never-before-seen intimate home movies and an extraordinary trove of personal archive material, as well as the first extended interviews ever filmed with Reeve’s three children about their father, and interviews with the A-list Hollywood actors who were Reeve’s colleagues and friends. The film is a moving and vivid cinematic telling of Reeve’s remarkable story.

I teared up while watching the trailer, and so did several of the commenters on the video. If that's what the trailer can do, imagine what the entire film would do. That's why I think it would win Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards if it were nominated. On the one hand, actors compose the largest branch of the Motion Picture Academy and they'll vote for Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story if it's on the ballot; as the trailer shows, Reeve was beloved and probably still is. On the other, getting on the ballot is up to the Documentary Branch and, as I've written before, they have issues.

[T]he Documentary Branch of the Motion Picture Academy...deliberately do[es] not nominate documentaries that will earn votes from the entire academy as a whole that they don't agree [are] the very best. They also don't like documentaries made with archive footage. They also have political axes to grind.

The Documentary Branch may think the other Best Documentary winner, Will & Harper, or one of the other category winners, such as Sugarcane, which won Best Political Documentary and Best True Crime Documentary, is a better nominee and leave Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story off the ballot entirely. Then again, none of these issues prevented them from nominating Summer of Soul, which won. My readers and I will see if Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story makes the shortlist next month, the next step in the nomination process.

If it doesn't make the short list, or does but fails to be nominated, this looks like exactly the kind of work that would be nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the Emmy Awards. If so, it would have a good chance of winning, as Jim Henson Idea Man won this category this fall and 'Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie won it this past winter for the previous TV season. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story would fit right in.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the winners.


Continuing with the winners from the press release.

The Last of the Sea Women, Simone Biles Rising, and Sugarcane each took home two awards.

The Last of the Sea Women won the awards for Best Cinematography for Iris Ng, Eunson Choo, and Justin Turkowski, and Best Science/Nature Documentary.

Simone Biles Rising was another of the evening’s double award winners, earning trophies for Best Sports Documentary and Best Limited Documentary Series.

Sugarcane took home dual awards as well, for Best Political Documentary and Best True Crime Documentary.

Natalie Rae and Angela Patton won Best New Documentary Filmmaker(s) for their work on Daughters.

Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces won for Best Narration, written and performed by Steve Martin.

The trophy for Best Historical Documentary was awarded to The Greatest Night in Pop.

Best Music Documentary went to Music by John Williams.

The award for Best Short Documentary was presented to The Only Girl in the Orchestra.

30 for 30 took home the award for Best Ongoing Documentary Series.

Congratulations to all the winners and good luck to all of those eligible for an Oscar!

Stay tuned for an evergreen post, or at least one worth sharing next month, tomorrow.